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Calgary psychiatrist with history of abusive ex-gay therapy arrested on sexual assault charge
March 30, 2010 - 9:51am
One question is obvious. What the hell was he doing here in the first place?
Another way of phrasing the same question, almost as obvious, why did the Alberta College of Physicians and Surgeons (the governing professional body) certify him? They were, at least, quick to suspend him once charges were laid, but one would think there should have been alarm bells ringing all over the place when he first sought accreditation. Should I hold my breath for this self-governing board to hold hearings into their own procedures?
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Is it possible they didn't know? I doubt that he'd be forthcoming, and it's not like regulatory bodies have money to hire investigators to delve into people's pasts when they apply for a license.
Doug, he along with dozens, at least, if not 100's, of other South African Drs, are here in Canada practising, without their credentials being refused. Canadian representatives went and actively sought them out, starting back in 2000 and 2001. Though some had come to Canada prior to that too, but that was of their own accord, after the fall of apartheid
I am sure it is possible Michelle, just not likely. I would suggest reading this article from the Guardian and pay particular attention to this quote:
Levin was described as being the "chief psychiatrist in the apartheid-era military" and that there were human rights complaints against him in South Africa. Surely before granting him a liscence to practice in the province the CPSA can be expected to have, at a minimum: a) been aware of his previous professional appointments, b) contacted the association governing his profession in South Africa and c) contacted the civil authorities in South Africa (if for no other reason to see if there were any criminal charges against him). Likewise, before being engaged by the crown, he should have been vetted by Alberta Justice. If "the media" was able to access this information in 1995 (or shortly thereafter), the CPSA should have been aware of it (of course we will not likely ever know, self-regulating professional bodies are not transparent to public scrutiny).
This story is as much about the failures of the CPSA and Alberta Justice as it is about the offences of Levin himself. I am hard pressed to see how one can do other than judge them to be either incompetent to determine the facts (in which case they should not be self-regulating) or complicit* in covering up his history and exposing the public to abuse by a homophobe (which I consider to be just as likely, and another argument against allow professions to be "self-regulating" and excluding public oversight of their actions).
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*Remember to put this in context, the call to remove homosexuality from the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) only passed the 43rd World Health Assembly in 1990, and was not really official until publication of ICD-10 in 1992. It is not a great stretch to argue that institutional homophobia in both the CPSA and Alberta Justice would still be playing a very large role in 1995 when Levin arrived.
University of Calgary officials claim they are investigating the recruitment of Dr. Levin, but no-one is investigating Immigration Canada for allowing this monster in. Several academics are claiming Levin's Jewish friends arranged for him to be spirited out of Africa and deposited in Alberta. If money buys anything nowadays, what farce is "national security"? Justice Alberta also recruited Levin's "talents."
Um, what, Tellier? Bye.
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What bagkitty said.
Institutions of oppression really work together quite well don't they? This is despicable.
And an update on this story, more victims of the good doctor have come forward and more charges are being laid.
i really can't wait to find out how this monster was allowed into the country, and allowed to continue practicing, considering the charges against him.
Considering the gov. routinely denies immigration because of a family member or casual association with someone who may or may not have had an even more casual relationship with someone who may or may not have given money to a group that may have passed on some of that money to someone with a link to a declared "terrorist" group, it's hard to believe there was no knowledge of his past activity when he was allowed into the country.